The Board of Ada County Commissioners met on September 11 to discuss a jail bond meant to improve the Ada County Jail which is currently over capacity. Attendees included the members of the Ada County Sheriff’s Office and Clearwater Financial.
As it stands, the Ada County Jail can house 1,116. Currently, officials at the jail have set up cots in common areas to keep up with the growing population of inmates.
According to Terry Derden, Chief Legal Advisor for the Ada County Sheriff's Office, "We have very good, proactive law enforcement. We don't ever want to be in a situation, 10, 12 years from now where we're telling people 'You can't bring anyone else to jail'. That's never the position Ada County or we want to be in. So it's just time for us to have that discussion with the public, to engage and see where their interest lies and what we can do, and what our options are, and then give the board that information so that they can make a decision."
The bond being proposed would be the first improvement to the jail's facilities since 2013 when 80 beds were added to increase the jail's capacity.
In order to gauge public opinion on the expansion, the Ada County Sheriff's Office released a survey, which is available here.
"The amount of survey responses that we've had already have been good. [Being out] for people for a couple of days we've had, you know, I think we're somewhere near 600 people already. We'd really love to see that number go up, so we can really see a good impact on what the people of Ada County want to see us do," said Derden.
The discussion outlined the current state of the jail and the need for expansion due to the growing inmate population, as well as the details of the proposed expansion. The development would include an additional 294 beds with an expansion to the warehouse, kitchen and laundry areas at the Ada County Jail.
Many responses from those opposed to the bond have referenced the need to stop locking up non-violent offenders.
Following their discussion, board members agreed to wait on a decision, offering more time for responses to their survey to be submitted. They anticipate a decision by September 14.
